Parking wardens in Wales are coming under criticism – for being too nice.

An inspection in two towns found wardens were reluctant to issue tickets, even when drivers had overstayed by 15 minutes.

The officials also weren’t penalising tradesmen for parking in restricted areas – even although only water and electricity vehicles are allowed to stop there without special authority.

And parking in the evenings and at weekends was a “free for all” as little enforcement was done.

The inspection was done by councillors in Powys who couldn’t understand how the council was losing money on enforcing parking restrictions.

The council needs to issue 40% more tickets to break even.

Councillors who shadowed wardens three times in Welshpool and Llandrindod Wells found there were plenty of infringements – but many were going unticketed.

They said some of the overheard conversations between residents and officers “would indicate that paying to park may be the exception rather than the rule”.

The group’s report said: “Enforcement needs to be more proactive and demonstrably ‘firm but fair’.”

The councillors were not impressed that even when parking tickets were issued, a “high percentage” were later cancelled.

They discovered that 39% of tickets were cancelled at the first challenge. A third of the cancelled tickets had been given to Blue Badge holders.

Toughen up

The councillors gave Powys council’s cabinet a list of actions to toughen up the act, including shortening the period of grace before the Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) starts issuing a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

“Whilst a little leeway is afforded when a motorist overruns the allotted time, it is thought that this, added to the length of time it takes to process the PCN, was too long,” said the parking group.

“The process itself takes seven minutes and can be aborted at any time up until the very end of the procedure. On one occasion the motorist had already been given 15 minutes to return to their vehicle prior to commencement of issuing a PCN and the CEO still appeared to be reluctant to issue the ticket.”

The group also wants parking tickets to be more consistent across Powys, after finding that “different parking policies operate in different areas as decisions are made locally and sometimes contrary to police recommendations”.

The group added: “Suggestions have also been made that political pressure is brought to bear in some cases.”

Parking offences in Powys streets were decriminalised in 2010, enabling the council – instead of police traffic wardens – to enforce the rules.

Although tickets issued in the streets and in council car parks bring in £1.2m of annual income, the council is still subsidising the operation from its own funds.

“To enable the service to be cost neutral, 7,000 tickets would have to be issued annually,” said the parking group. “The latest information shows that only 5,000 are issued per annum.

“The purpose of the Traffic Management Act is to ensure traffic moves freely and should not be seen in terms of income generation. Targets are not set for PCNs issued.”